On deck: Whitecaps vs. Quad Cities River Bandits

Up next
West Michigan Whitecaps vs Quad Cities River Bandits, 6:35 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m.. Saturday and Sunday at Fifth Third Ballpark.

The opponent
The River Bandits, Class A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, enter the weekend 15-10 and in third place in the Western Division, four games behind division leader Clinton. Quad Cities just beat Lansing two out of three times after sweeping three from the Great Lakes Loons and winning two of three against Burlington.

Who to watch
The highest-ranked Cardinals prospect on the roster is shortstop Pete Kozma, ranked the system's No. 7 prospect by BBA. Kozma is beginning to show signs of that potential after hitting just .233 in 42 games as a professional prior to the season. Kozma is batting .341 with 10 extra base hits in 91 at bats. He also leads the team with 13 walks.

Catcher Luis De La Cruz, ranked No. 30 in the Cardinals' system, is struggling at the plate, batting just .194 in 14 games.

The top pitching prospect is Blake King, ranked 26th in the system by Baseball America. King is 1-1 with a 2.33 ERA in 19 innings.

Aside from Kozma, the top hitter on the team is Charles Kingrey, who is batting .329 with 10 doubles, 17 RBIs and 42 total bases. He's not ranked among St. Louis' top 30 prospects.

Notable
The Cardinals like Kozma, whom BBA rates as the best overall shortstop in the entire Cardinals chain. He's a former No. 1 draft choice out of an Oklahoma high school who signed for $1.39 million. In fact, he signed directly after hitting three home runs in one game to get his club to the high school state title game. Then he hit another home run in the state final. Baseball America says he's three years away from playing shortstop in the major leagues. ... King is the great nephew of legendary New York Yankee Mickey Mantle. That, however, hasn't helped him throw strikes. He had walked 107 batters in 173 innings coming into the season. ... Quad Cities manages its starting pitching in an odd way. The team has eight starters who "piggyback" starts. Here's how that works: the River Bandits designate two starters for a game, with the first starter going up to five innings and the second pitcher hopefully finishing the game. King is scheduled to be the second pitcher used Friday night. ... Quad Cities is managed by Steve Dillard. Detroit Tigers fans with a good memory might recall him. An eight-year major leaguer, he hit .223 as a backup infielder with the Tigers in 1978. He played just the one year in Detroit. The Tigers had to make room for a pretty fair shortstop/second baseman duo who played their first full season together in 1978: Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker.